Ah the Saab convertible. Very nice! As is Ferris’ M5. Yeah, there a lot of ways for us blow our money. I’m kinda diggin the Mini right now. Just filled it with Premium. 12.127 gallons for a 377 mile run. Not bad considering how much time the tach spends in the upper part of the range.

  I paid 4.19 a gallon and here in Jersey we have full serve only. The attendant pumping the gas said his idea to get people to quit bitchin about gas prices would be to have young woman in thong bikinis pump the gas. I think he's on to something. Buttttt, I then reminded him he'd be out of a job. Hey, he's pumpin gas for a reason.   OK, enough, Saturday awaits!

[quote=iceco1d]

  LOLOL! Hilarious.  Reading a few more threads...delaying mowing the grass (95 and humid here today...ugh!).  [/quote]   95 and humid? Geesh, I wish it was that cool, here! Try a heat index of over 100 and it hasn't rained here for weeks. (Ha, ha, no reason to cut grass!) No to mention, thousands and thousands of gnats.

[quote=doberman]Here’s a much simpler way to determine whether to lease or buy:

  If it's a Honda, Toyota, or Nissan, buy it. The car will last 10+ years. You'll only have to make car payments for less than half that time. Well-built, great gas mileage, plus it will hold its value as the dollar continues its descent. Win, win, win.   American car, lease it. You're not going to want hold an American car for more than 2-3 years. It's not well-built and the paint job will soon fade. Car lease payments every month for the rest of your life.   This is based on my experience:   1976 Toyota Corolla: Parked it for 2.5 years while I was overseas. Came back and it took 10 minutes to start it. Filled it with gas and drove it 200 miles. Ugly as sin, but rugged as heck.   1984 Olds Cutlass Supreme: Beautiful car, lousy transmission.   1989 Mercury Grand Marqis: Lousy transmission. Steering wheel oozed a black goo when parked in the sun. Numerous problems.   1994 Nissan Sentra: 295,000 miles. Transmission finally gave out. Paint job faded after a few years.   1997 Honda Accord: 515,000 miles. Yes, 515,000 miles. I bought it with 30,000 miles on it, same engine, same transmission. Interior held-up great. Paint job beaded water all but the last couple of years. (Damn, I miss that car. I sold it for $350.)   2008 Honda Civic: Proud owner....    So, as you can see, my experience speaks for itself.   Now, I'm sure someone has experiences just opposite from me, but I will never, ever own an American-built car. Detroit has cost me a lot of money, but my boycott of any American cars will cost them even more. [/quote] I'm late to this party and haven't read the entire thread but let me throw my two cents in since I'm a car guy. If I'm buying a car my money goes to a Mitsubishi, Hyundai, or a Kia. Why? 10 year 100,000 mile warranty, most are 5 star crash test rated, and have very good fuel economy. I've been in the car business for three years now and I wouldn't own an American Badged (not be confused with American built) car, and at this point in my life I can't justify the added expense of a premium badge luxury car.   www.thetruthaboutcars.com is a great forum for unbiased car review (and industry news) check it out before buying anything. I tend to agree with most of there views.   Full Disclosure- 1. The auto group I work for sells new Ford products, GM products, Chrylser products, Hyundai/Kia, and previously had Suzuki and Mitusbishi. 2. I will not buy any car that is not 5 star crash test rated.

[quote=Spaceman Spiff]Dave Ramsey says never (f)lease a car.  The only person who wins on that bet is the dealer.  He also says cars take the biggest deprecation hit in the first 4 years, so look for one that is just a bit older.  Perhaps one of those cars that someone leased for 3 years.  They’ve taken the brunt of their depreciation and they’ve been taken care of pretty well because the guy leasing the car knows he can’t screw it up or he’ll pay through the nose for it.  Finally, he also says that rich people don’t make payments.   They pay cash for their cars.  They’ve realized it’s stupid to pay interest on an investment that constantly depreciates. 

  So, in short, pay cash for a gently used car.    [/quote]   If you're looking for a value I'd say go three or four years old, but buyer beware and understand that most cars that age will have some problems and may have a few kinks that need some work. (Kinda like buying an older home I guess.) As far as the finance/cash part goes both of my cars are used and I get a better return in my money market account then I pay in intrest on my cars. I'd check the rates before I made a decision.

I’ll pay a premium, if the quality is good. In the end, I always come out ahead.

  Besides, going to the garage, every couple of months, for a few hundred a clip plus low car payments isn't a bargain.

There is a reason for 100k warrantys. It's called reliabilty, or lack of it. Hyundai's were so bad that that they had to offer the warranties to stay in biz in this country. Granted the quality has come up in recent years, but from a personal observation of friends who own them, still not up to Honda.

My personal experience:   9 Honda's over the past 18 years. Most were kept to about 50k miles. But two topped 100k. Currently we have two Civics, a 03 with about 70k and an 07 with about 30k on the clock. Both are owned by me and driven by my kids. Through all these cars and all these miles only one shop visit for other than routine maint. So, Honda gets my best built vote based on experience.   2 Camrys, a 97 and 07. Neither is/was as good as Honda. The 07 is approaching 30k miles and has been to the shop twice. Once for a tranny problem. As I write this it need another visit because something has come loose behind the radio/HVAC stack and is rattling around bigtime. The 97 was in the shop several times for various issues. I know Toyota builds good cars but I have yet to get one.   3 Jeeps. Over the past 10 years I've put over 250,000 miles on three Grand Cherokee's. The first Jeep was a problem child but I liked the brand so I gave them another shot in 99. That car went 120k miles with only one trip to the shop. Then at 120k  it developed a $4k problem with it's complicated drive system. Reluctant to put that dough into a 120k mile car I traded it for another Jeep. I figured a lifetime on a car is about 100k miles. I beleive that the 99 had given me good service. The 04 now has 82k on it now with one shop call for an inop driver's side window. $166 to fix. So, Jeeps, a Chrysler product are good in my book.   Lincoln/Mercury. I've owned 8 Towncars and 6 Mercury Colony Park wagons over the years. I also had one Grand Marquis sedan, an 88. Most of these cars were good cars that I traded after two years. But there were some problem cars. The 88 GM stands out as so bad  that Ford bought it back. And that's saying something because it was pre-lemon law. The Colony Parks were all great cars. More recently an 06 Towncar had a tranny problem that Ford wouldn't fix because they couldn't replicate it in the shop. I fixed the problem myself leaving the car and it's aggravation in the rearview mirror at the Toyota dealer.   BMW I've owned 6 BMW cars/bikes over the past 17 years including my 07 Cooper S. One buy back on a bike that that suffered a catastrofic engine failure after a seal leaked. One of the 5 series cars had an electrical gremlin that killed its battery and my joy of ownership leading to an early exit from the fleet. Mostly, though good experiences over lots of miles.   My personal experience is that Toyota and BMW are no better than Chrysler. Honda stands above all three. For that I'm willing to pay a premium.   Both my brothers drive American cars, one Lincoln Aviator and a Towncar. The other, Chevy Avalanch and a CCR. As brothers of course we get into which brand is best debates all the time. Neither has bought foreign, but aren't against them.  Both report excellent experiences with their cars. No probelms. The CCR is new but the 2001 Taurus with 155k on the clock that was used in trade was a well loved American car.  

[quote=iceco1d]Wow BondGuy, you’ve had a lot of cars!  I know personal experiences vary, but Toyota and Honda are still the highest quality cars from a scientific POV (and, in that order).  That being said, the car I’ve had the least problems with, is an 02 Hyundai Santa Fe (never owned a Honda, but I have owned Toyota and Nissan, and my fiance (soon to be wife) has owned Mitsubishi’s and a VW, and they had more problems than the 6 year old Hyundai as well!). 

  Guess that's why they use large sample sizes for statistical research.[/quote] ...or statistcal research from most of the major companies has a bias. www.truedelta.com is a great site for unbiased car research as is www.thetruthaboutcars.com